A favourite morning treat in the West, the Danish pastry is as versatile as it is popular — there are various versions of it with some combination of jams, custards, cream, chocolate, fruit and/or nuts. While the world knows the pastry as the Danish, in Denmark it is called ‘Wienerbrød’, which translates to ‘Viennese bread’, a homage to its origins.

The pastry, arguably Denmark’s most popular export, made its way from Austria, but the laminated, layered dough, which is what makes the pastry unique, was supposedly invented in France, 350 years ago by Claudius Glee. Apparently, the apprentice baker forgot to add butter to the flour when making bread and sought to fix his mistake by adding lumps of butter to the dough – the result was puff pastry.

Of course, layered pastry has a much longer history than that and can be traced to Moorish Spain — the oldest printed recipe for making laminated pastry with butter, using a technique similar to one employed by Arabs, appeared in 1607 in the book Libro del Arte de Cozina. Similar to a lot of European baked classics, the Danish pastry, too, it seems, owes its origins to the Arabs.

In 1622, Glee opened his own cafe in Paris, where he served pastries made from his invented dough — the French dubbed his creations “a thousand leaves.” From there, the pastry found its way to Italy and then Austria.

A delectable addition to tea time, the Danish pastry was invented by mistake

In 1850, a strike by Danish bakery workers led owners to hire Austrian bakers, who introduced the pastry to the Danes. From Denmark, it found its way across the Atlantic and has now become a classic, similar to its cousin, the eclair.

Peach Danish

While Danish pastry dough can be folded up to 27 times, the version of puff pastry in this recipe is a far simpler (and thus quicker) version to make. The puff pastry can be made ahead or can be store-bought (puff pastry dough should be available for purchase at your local bakery). If you’re short on time, you can also substitute canned peaches for the fresh ones and skip making the fruit filling.

Don’t like peaches or it isn’t the season for them? Feel free to substitute with any other fruit, such as apples, pears, strawberries or mangoes; the crunch of the pastry and creaminess of the filling contrasts wonderfully with most fruit. Don’t have a sweet tooth? Skip the sugar in the fruit filling.

Peach Danish

Ingredients (Makes 6 to 8 pastries)
For the puff pastry (makes about 300g of pastry)
150g flour
85g butter, chilled
Water, as needed

For the peach danishes

250g of puff pastry
3-4 fresh peaches
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
8 tablespoons cream cheese
3 tablespoons powdered or fine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or extract
1 egg (for the egg wash)
For the glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons cream or malai
½ teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)

Method

1. Make the puff pastry dough. Mix the salt and flour together. Then, slowly add water, rubbing the mixture together until it becomes crumble-like. Cut about one-third of the butter. Dice the cut-off butter into cubes and add to the mixture. Continue rubbing and adding water until the crumbly mixture resembles dough. Knead the dough well, folding and stretching it out a few times. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a bowl. Cover with a lid or cling film and place in the fridge for 20 minutes. Put the rest of the unused butter in the fridge, too, to chill.

2. After letting the dough cool, take it out and roll into a half-inch thick rectangle on a surface lightly dusted with flour. Grate one-third of the remaining chilled butter on to two-thirds of the dough. Fold one-third of the top of the rectangle. Do the same for the bottom one-third of the dough. The two folds should meet in the middle and overlap. Pinch the dough to seal the edges. Then roll over the dough, pressing down on it a few times until it is smoothed over. Chill, once again, for 20 minutes.

3. Repeat the steps of adding butter, folding over, rolling flat and chilling two more times.

4. Make the peach danishes. Slice the peaches into ½-inch thick pieces. Add the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and the peaches into a bowl and toss well until the peach slices are covered well. Set aside.

5. Mix the powdered sugar, cream cheese and vanilla essence in a bowl and whisk well.

6. Pull out a palm-full of the puff pastry dough, dust some flour on a work surface and roll out the dough into a five to six-inch wide circle. Repeat till the dough is all used up. Fold in the edges of the danish pastry dough.

7. Scoop out the cream cheese mixture. Place in the centre of the pastry and flatten with a spoon. Then add two to three slices of the peach.

8. Preheat the oven to 200oC. Whisk together an egg and a tablespoon of water. Brush the egg wash on the edges of the pastry pieces. Line a baking tray with wax paper or butter and lightly dust the tray with flour. Place the pastries an inch or two apart. Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden-brown.

9. Whisk together the sugar, vanilla essence and cream to make the icing. Let the pastries slightly cool before drizzling with the glaze. Serve with chai.

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 27th, 2024